


Savoring the Time

by rhodrymavelyne



Series: More Than a Jinrou [8]
Category: Shiki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 04:38:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17912162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Yuuki Natsuno savors the time he has with his victim, Ozaki Toshio, while trying to persuade him to meet with Muroi Seishin, even if that meeting may cost his the affections of his precious prey. All the while, Natsuno finds comfort in Tatsumi's arms, who's showing more and more of a kind something. Something is wrong, though, for neither vampire nor victim is reacting quite like they should in this intimate situation...





	Savoring the Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is Part 8 of More than a Jinrou, my ongoing Shiki story and it's a lot more graphic. What can I say? Everyone was feeling a little needy...
> 
> I don't own Shiki, but sometimes it owns me. :)=

Running water was supposed to be toxic for a vampire. 

Yuuki Natsuno stood beneath the full blast of the shower, soaking his wayward hair, daring it to scald him.

All it did was flatten damp locks to his head, run down his face, and torso. Wetting him. 

Another myth down the drain. 

Perhaps the water could cleanse him of his need for his victim, the hunger growing inside. Not just for blood, but the sound of his voice, the touch of his skin, the smell of his damp hair in the darkness of his room.

If only. 

****

Yuuki Natsuno moved into the darkness of Toshio Ozaki’s bleak apartment, filled with an odd trepidation. As if he were a mortal boy still. Not a vampire entering his victim’s lair. 

A warm arm, filled with human vitality, wrapped around him, crushing him against a human torso. A strong, steady heartbeat with none of the sluggishness of a shiki’s victim thrumped within the firm flesh, pounding out a tune of jealous temper. 

Natsuno let Toshio lift him off his feet, claim his lips and whatever breath he might have left if he’d been human. 

If only.

****

A muscular arm wrapped around his wet torso. Once again, Natsuno found himself crushed against a firm chest. 

This one definitely wasn’t human. 

“You never have to be careful around me.” Tatsumi lifted him into the air as Toshio had. The older jinrou pressed him against the shower wall. Hard, eager, seeking vulnerable openings in the younger jinrou’s body. “I can take whatever you’ve got, Natsuno. Whatever you’ve got.”

Natsuno allowed his lips to soften, yielding to the other man’s hunger. What was the point in barricading himself? 

Tatsumi might have been an enemy once. Now he was one of the few allies Natsuno had. 

He slid down, letting the older jinrou between his thigh, feeling him swell with passion. He threw his head back, tasting the desire in the air, breathing it in. 

Natsuno gasped, drinking that heady aroma, which solidified in his throat as liquid sustenance. 

Tatsumi thrust into him, all aggression, loneliness and hungry need. 

Natsuno rode those emotions, allowing them to swell within him, even as he felt the other jinrou explode inside. 

The two of them screamed as one, their possessiveness running down their bodies, only to escape down the drain. 

Natsuno lowered a hand to fondle the jinrou’s blue hair, and caressed one jutting ear. 

Tatsumi held him pinned to the wall, shuddering just like a mortal man. Color flushed in his cheeks. 

Natsuno breathed in, satisfied in more ways than one. It was as if he’d just fed, only Tatsumi’s skin remained warm, almost human. 

It was happening again. He no longer craved blood, even though his fangs popped out. 

***

Natsuno let one hand clench the bedspread, breathing in Toshio’s desperate, throbbing need, driving him into the bed. 

“Natsuno,” Toshio whispered. The sorrow, loneliness, and pain drifted in the air. Natsuno could taste it on his tongue, although it no longer tasted like tobacco. The doctor hadn’t reached for a cigarette, nor did he smell like them. Some of the tobacco laced despair had departed from Toshio’s scent. 

Natsuno inhaled, gasped, the emotions running down his throat like blood. He accepted Toshio’s pain, desire, loneliess, feeling it warm his chest and belly. 

His fangs extended, yet he didn’t sink them into Toshio’s flesh. Not this time. 

When Toshio thrust, fluids gushing forth like a river of blood, Natsuno felt them warm his body, sending life through all his limbs. He shuddered in time with his victim, a cry escaping from his lips as Toshio moaned his repletion.

“That was…too…damned…good.” Toshio gritted his teeth and shifted. 

Natsuno rolled slightly so he could look up at the older man’s face. Toshio was flushed, breathing hard, yet didn’t appear at all tired. 

“You didn’t bite me.” He reached down to seize one of Natsuno’s wrists. “Why?”

“I guess I didn’t need to,” Natsuno murmured, breathing in the scent of sweat from the sheets. “Somehow you satisfied me without blood.”

“That shouldn’t be possible.” Toshio frowned, narrowing his warm, brown eyes. “Who are you, Yuuki Natsuno? What are you?”

The boy felt the man tremble a bit on top of him with a fear which perhaps he shared. A little. “Your Seishin asked me the same thing.”

“Seishin?!” The grip around his wrist tightened. Fire burned within Toshio’s eyes, turning them an almost inhuman amber. 

I might turn him into something inhuman if I continue this bizarre affair. The thought popped into Natsuno’s head, like a warning. Whatever we’re doing isn’t something he can just walk away from, anymore than being bitten. 

“You’ve seen Seishin? Again?” Hope and fear warred in Toshio’s voice. His lower lip trembled. 

Natsuno nodded, feeling very small and frail under this man’s weight. Not a bit like a vampire with his victim. 

He reached out to touch that victim, no, his lover’s face. “Would you like to see him, Toshio?”

Toshio gazed at him, face slack with an almost childlike expression. 

“I’ll take you to him.” Natsuno let his hand linger against his face. “Soon.” 

He swallowed the rush of possessive fury which ran up his arm, tingled in his fangs. This man was his. Another vampire couldn’t have Toshio. 

Natsuno told his fangs and his fury silently to go to hell. As he’d said to Sunako, he refused to believe the vampire bite…or even several bouts of terrific sex…could blot out a bond of love and friendship which had existed for a lifetime. 

He refused to believe it. 

 

****  
Natsuno tightened his legs around Tatsumi, not wanting to let go, letting his face fall against his shoulder. 

Hurt me. Be cruel. Blot out everything. 

Only the other jinrou was allowing him to slide down, cradling him with a protective tenderness, kissing away the desperate scream of jealousy waiting behind his lips. 

“If you want to tear me apart, this is a good opportunity to do so,” Natsuno whispered into his hair. “Be brutal.” He sank his teeth into Tatsumi’s ear. “Go on. You want to be. I can take it.”

I deserve it. 

Tatsumi stopped, withdrawing his head from Natsuno. He gazed at the younger man for a long, sober moment. “Never have I felt less like ripping someone apart. It’s as if I had two mortals in rapid succession, gorging on them in a huge, blood orgy.”

“You flatter me.” Natsuno allowed his hand to glide over Tatsumi’s shoulder. “I can’t be that good.”

“I’m not flattering you. I mean every word.” Tatsumi lifted his face. Blue eyes filled with same lively energy which had been in Toshio’s amber ones met his. “What is it about you, Yuuki Natsuno, which somehow…satisfies me? What have you got that a human victim doesn’t?”

Natsuno leaned forward, silencing the other jinrou with his lips, feeling him harden once more in response. He leaned into his, rubbing against him, letting his body react.

This was only answer he had. 

*****

“I’ll take you to Seishin-sensei.” Natsuno pressed his lips against Toshio’s chin before moving down to that ever so vulnerable neck. “Please let me, Toshio.”

“Why?” Toshio gazed at him with the bleak despair Natsuno once felt. Realizing he was still alive, yet had no desire to be. 

“Because there’s still hope, Toshio. You may not see it yet, but it’s there.” Natsuno rolled and Toshio rolled with him, letting the slight vampire boy flip him over. 

Natsuno straddled his victim, locking his fingers and eyes with the mortal man beneath him. He called on every bit of power he possessed while looking down on him. 

Yuuki Natsuno hadn’t wanted to do this. Not to Ozaki Toshio. He wasn’t just some toy or source of nourishment. He was a person, an ally…a…

Friend? 

Lover. Yes, this man was his lover. What’s more, Ozaki Toshio was his responsibility. And he was in trouble. 

His soul was faltering. Toshio had no purpose, other than Natsuno. 

Natsuno had to give him a purpose, even if it meant forcing it on Toshio. 

The thought made him sick. The mortal boy he’d been screamed in despair. No! This is what people have done to us all our lives! This is what his father did, this is what…

…this is what Tohru-chan did. This is what Tatsumi did. 

Natsuno could taste the blood coursing through his mouth, unwanted vitality, bringing him back, even if he didn’t want it. 

Now Natsuno was about to do the same thing. He’d truly become a vampire. 

Natsuno shut his eyes and shuddered. 

“Natsuno?” Hands crept up his body, cupped his face. “Natsuno, what’s wrong?”

“Toshio,” he whispered. He laid a hand upon the strong fingers against his cheek, ah, but they were only human. They couldn’t stop him. 

For Toshio, Natsuno would do it. He’d give up that last bit of his humanity. 

Ah, but there’s always more to lose, Natsuno. That nasty, internal voice, which sounded so much like Masao, jeered at him. You’ll find out just how much. 

Shut up. This is to save his life, to give him the chance I no longer have, to…

…do to him what Tatsumi did to me. 

This made Yuuki Natsuno shudder more than any of other vampire power. It wasn’t stealing someone’s life, gradually weakening them bit by bit. It was taking someone’s will from them, robbing them of their choices. 

“There are still things worth living for, Toshio.” Natsuno opened his eyes, looked down into those softened amber eyes. They’d seen so much grief, so much despair. Was it so wrong to hope they’d light up with joy, with happiness? 

Even if it was with someone other than himself. 

“There are still people worth living for. Things you want, no, need to say to them.” Natsuno leaned down, letting his own hand caress the older man. “Muroi Seishin-sensei is one of them.” 

It was Toshio’s turn to shut his eyes, to shudder beneath him. 

What could Natsuno say to Toshio? What would give him the courage to hope again? 

Compelling Ozaki Toshio wouldn’t work. How could he have forgotten? 

Yuuki Natsuno was going against his own commands, the one he’d given to his victim on a late afternoon in Sotoba…

*****

Natsuno lifted his head, the warmth of tobacco, anguish, and a strong, grounded affection running down his throat. The sun flickered through the leaves of the tree, sheltering mortal man and vampire boy from Sotoba’s prying eyes. 

Yuuki Natsuno had always hated this place, but there were good things about it. There were good people in it. Tohru-chan had been one of them. 

This man, Ozaki Toshio-sensei was another. He had roots, running deep and strong into Sotoba, grounding him in this village. It wasn’t just that his family had been a part of the community for a long time. 

Ozaki Toshio gave his heart, his life, all of his passion to this place. This was why he was so filled with despair. The shiki were killing him, without even having to lay a fang on him, by sucking the life out of those he’d given it to. 

This man would always do what he felt was right for community, for the people. Natsuno felt that conviction course in his veins, when he looked up at him. 

“Ozaki Toshio-sensei, I command you to be true to your own heart and wishes, no matter what any shiki tells you to do.” Natsuno lowered his head and pressed his lips to the wound. “By the blood we share, I order you to follow your own convictions until the end.”

A hand reached down to caress his hand. “That was a reckless order to give me, Natsuno-kun. I might betray you.”

“You might.” Natsuno dropped his hand and rose to his feet. “You’ll never be a slave, though. Mine or any other vampire’s.”

***

“I stopped myself from compelling you.” Natsuno lifted a hand to press against his forehead. “Even if it’s to save your life, I can’t do it.”

“Do you believe me now when I say I need you, Natsuno?” Toshio reached out to take one of his wrists. “There’s a limit to how much you can ever curtail my free will.”

“You can never be completely mine or any other jinrou’s.” Natsuno breathed a sigh of relief. One moral hurdle avoided, no. Planned for and plotted around by a younger, more human version of him. “Yet you seem to want me to drain you dry.”

“I truly have nothing left other than you.” Toshio grinned, once again amused at his own misery. “Seeing Seishin again might simply ram home how lost to me he is.”

No, he wasn’t lost. Not like Tohru-chan was to Natsuno. Toshio still see his Seishin, speak to him, say all the things he wished he had. The two men, human and jinrou, had a chance for closure if nothing else. 

Perhaps more than just closure. Perhaps some of their pain could be healed. 

What could Natsuno do to convince Toshio of that? To rekindle his hope of finding…something?

What had Tatsumi done to him? 

Memory of a wet mouth tasting his most intimate parts, making him feel the other jinrou’s possession of him brought a flush to his cheek, stirring his passion. 

No. He shouldn’t think of Tatsumi when he was with Toshio. Perhaps there was something he could do for Toshio, a way to allow the flesh to soothe the mind and soul. 

Natsuno locked his eyes with Toshio, recalling the moment when Tatsumi explored his body, awakening his lower regions with his mouth and tongue. No fangs had been involved, well, not often. 

Perhaps this wasn’t possible. Toshio was human. His organ stirred, however, when Natsuno slid down his body, finding it nestled within chestnut hair, slightly darker than the strands upon his head.

He pressed his lips against that organ, let his tongue run around it, remembering what had been done to him. 

“Yes…” Toshio let out a joyful groan. He reached out a hand to clutch the boy’s head. “Natsuno…Natsuno!”

Natsuno swallowed the hardness, sucking it. No need to pause for breath. He didn’t need to breathe. He allowed his tongue to tease, taste, and envelop Toshio’s throbbing passion, not letting up on him, not letting him go. 

Thick fluid, rich and overpowering as blood poured down his throat, filled with repressed desire and shocked repletion. 

Natsuno swallowed, feeling the warmth settle in his belly. It was as if he’d just drank a lot of blood. 

“You…you…” Toshio shuddered his release, yet still clutched his head, stroking his damp hair. “How can you sense whatever I need and be so willing to give it to me?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Natsuno lifted his head, gazed into liquid brown eyes, moist with unshed tears. “Making you happy is one of the few joys I have left.”

“My little love, my exquisite boy.” Toshio looked up at him, lips parted in a half smile. “Now you offer to reunite me with Seishin, to set old ghosts to rest.” He pushed some of Natsuno’s sweaty locks off his forehead. “Even though I belong to you now.”

“I don’t believe that. Do you?” Anger coursed through Natsuno, rebelling against this shiki platitude. “Are you going to let a couple of vampire bites and a few rolls in the sack outdo a bond you spent most of your life building?” Vampire boy glared down at mortal man. “You’re better than that. You’re more than that.”

“Oh, Natsuno.” A mischievous smile spread across the doctor’s face. “Is that all you think you are to me?” He ran his hand down Natsuno’s cheek to his neck. “A couple of bites?” He allowed his fingers to explore the boy’s chest, fonding one of nipples. “A few rolls in the sack?”

Natsuno’s treacherous tit was only too eager to harden at Toshio’s touch. 

The mortal man lifted his head, allowed his lips to follow his fingers, fastening upon the tiny nub. 

The vampire boy allowed himself to gasp like a human, giving into the human ministrations. 

This was just sex. It might be great sex, but it wasn’t anything more than that. Natsuno couldn’t expect it to be anything more than that. 

When the time came, when Toshio found a better reason to live, Yuuki Natsuno had to be willing to let him go. 

All the more the reason to savour his time with Ozaki Toshio now.

****

Hot tears gathered behind Natsuno’s eyes. He shuddered within Tatsumi’s arms, trembling all over. 

“Oi.” Tatsumi took his chin in hand, looked into Natsuno’s face. “You’re about to get what you wanted. Old friends reunited, yes?”

Yes. This was what he wanted. A happy ending for Toshio and Seishin. The happy ending he and Tohru-chan had been denied. 

Why was he crying? Why did the taste of Toshio linger in his mouth, his sweat and passion, leaving a bitterness upon his tongue? 

“Hold me,” Natsuno whispered, hating the childlike neediness in his own voice. It was that of a selfish vampire, unwilling to release his human prey. 

Natsuno refused to let that part of himself win. 

“I said it to you when I first confonted you, face to face in Sotoba.” Tatsumi wrapped his arms around the slighter vampire, cradling him. “After being with you, having you, I’m more convinced of it now.” 

He leaned back, keeping one arm around Natsuno. Tatsumi studied the younger jinrou’s face. 

“You’re kind, entirely too kind for one of us.” He ran a finger down Natsuno’s cheek, capturing a droplet of running water. “It tears you up inside, this kindness.”

“Tears me up inside?” Natsuno shut his eyes to the running water. “I’m cold. The best that can be said of me is I’m coolheaded and fair, but that’s just a nice way of saying I’m coldhearted.”

“You are one of the least coldhearted vampires…no, people, that I’ve ever met.” Tatsumi lifted Natsuno’s chin. “Anyone who can’t see this is an idiot.”

“I must be an idiot.” Natsuno opened his eyes, felt the water catch on his eyelashes. “Just how am I kind?”

“Someone coldhearted would never give his prey the freedom to make peace with a former love.” Tatsumi scowled, blue eyebrows coming together. “It’s unnatural.”

“I hate it.” Natsuno squirmed in the older man’s hand, only to drop his head and press against it. “I hate letting another jinrou anywhere near Toshio.”

“I know. Your possessiveness is quite normal for one of us.” Tatsumi stroked Natsuno’s hair. “Ozaki Toshio-sensei is yours now. No one is more aware of this than Muroi Seishin-sensei.”

“No.” Natsuno stiffened. “I…we’ve got to be more than that. More than just jinrou, claiming our prey. I’ve got to believe this, Tatsumi.” Natsuno sagged against the larger man. “A bond is more than just blood. It has to be.” 

“This is why you’re way too kind.” Tatsumi let out a sigh, enfolding the slight vampire in his arms. Water sprayed over them from the shower head. “You’re going to fight any and all cruelty, even if it’s perfectly natural to act on it. Even if it’s a fight you’ll lose.”

“Perhaps I will, but that doesn’t mean Toshio and Seishin-sensei have to lose.” Natsuno lifted his head. “Humans can be every bit as cruel as any shiki, Tatsumi. We’ve both seen it.” The younger jinrou buried his head against the older’s chest. “If this is so, why can’t shiki be kind? Especially when that kindness truly matters.”

“Especially when that kindness truly matters.” Tatsumi wore the same troubled expression which had been on his face, when Natsuno had been about to send them both to hell via dynamite. “This is important to you, truly important, even if you hate it.”

“What happened in Sotoba scarred everyone who survived.” Natsuno placed his hands upon Tatsumi’s arms. “I want to heal something. Someone. Is it too much to want to heal as well as steal someone’s life?”

“It’s unusual.” Tatsumi allowed a gentle smile to soften his entire face. “Might be nice for a change.” 

“You’ve done it.” Natsuno captured one of Tatsumi’s hands in his. “You’ve healed parts of me I didn’t even realize were damaged.”

The honesty of this admission nearly choked him with its rawness, yet it was a relief to say it. 

“You were willing to admit you were damaged, deep down.” Tatsumi’s smile vanished. “A lot of what happens will depend on Toshio and Seishin-sensei. In order for this plan of yours to work, you’ll have to let them work it out.”

“I know.” Natsuno shivered and stopped himself from hunching in on himself, reclaiming his arms and withdrawing. 

“Those two may not want to talk. They may not be able to.” Tatsumi dropped his hand, allowing Natsuno’s to fall. “You’ll have to have accept that if they do.”

“It doesn’t mean it’s over if they don’t talk at first.” Natsuno clenched his hand into a fist. “Toshio and Seishin-sensei may not be ready yet. It doesn’t mean they’ll never be.”

“Such optimism.” Tatsumi reached out to stroke the boy’s cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll play along. It’s not like I don’t have the time.”

“Thank you.” Natsuno leaned into the caress, into the older jinrou’s chest. 

“At the very least, all this has gotten you to say thank you more often.” Tatsumi enfolded Natsuno in his arms. “I could get used to hearing it.”

Natsuno, his face hidden, smiled. 

The water poured down over the two of them, running over their bodies, continuing its journey down the drain.


End file.
